Alexis de Tocqueville’s Citizenship: A Model of Collective Virtue

Abstract

In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville repeatedly describes psychological and behavioral traits that dispose Americans to aid their community and community members. I dub this disposition, “citizenship,” and argue that Tocqueville’s discussion smoothly lends itself to be interpreted in terms of contemporary philosophical virtue theory. While there is an important sense in which Tocqueville’s musings on citizenship fit well with contemporary virtue theory, there is an even more important sense in which it departs from this tradition. The main focus of this chapter will be explaining the way in which Tocqueville’s “citizenship” is a virtue that can be understood as methodologically distinct from virtues described in both classic and contemporary virtue theory. Importantly, Tocqueville provides a framework for understanding collective virtue.